Yarn traversing roll for winding machines



y 1967 s. L. ABBOTT 3,319,900

YARN TRAVERSING ROLL FOR WINDING MACHINES Filed March l2, 1965 United States Patent 3,319,900 YARN TRAVERSING ROLL FOR WINDING MACHINES Samuel L. Abbott, Wilton, N.H., assignor to Abbott Machine Co., Inc., Wilton, N.H., a corporation of New Hampshire Filed Mar. 12, 1965, Ser. No. 439,364 5 Claims. (Cl. 242-432) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A yarn traversing roll for winding machines of the cross-winding type, the roll having a spiral yarn groove with a reversal at each end of the roll and means beyond each reversal for restraining untensioned yarn from being thrown from the groove.

This invention relates to a yarn traversing roll having a yarn receiving groove for traversing the yarn. Such rolls are widely used in winding machines of the socalled quick-traverse or cross-winding type in which the yarn is to be laid on a rotating cylindrical or conical yarn package with each layer in the form of an open helix. These grooved rolls make possible the elimination of reciprocating thread guides and permit high winding speeds.

In the simplest form such roll may have a single continuous groovewith reversals near each end of the roll and not crossing itself, although the successive helical layers of yarn laid on the package will cross. Further developments in that type of roll include reduction of the diameter of the roll and one or more crossings of the oppositely directed parts of the groove. A variety of means have been devised to guide the yarn at the crossing or crossings, so that it will not take the wrong direction and reverse its traversing movement at a crossing. Further, the crossings need not be actual physical crossings of grooved portions, but one grooved portion may be interrupted where the yarn, inclined to the roll axis in one direction, is to cross a part of the groove which is inclined in the otherdirection. Generally, Where difierent depths of groove are employed at a crossing, or one groove is completely interrupted at the crossing, the shallow groove portion or the interrupted groove portion will be the one that guides the yarn away from that 'end of the roll which the crossing point is nearest.

I have found that some of the malfunctioning of automatic winding machines is due to use of grooved rolls. The yarn keeps its intended place in the groove because of the tension in the yarn, which even if no added tension is applied will be substantial because of the tension set up by ballooning of the yarn in coming off of the supply bobbin over-end. I have found that there are occasions when the automatic knotter' of the winding machine will receive from the yarn package not just the single end of yarn which is intended but two thicknesses of yarn, and will tie both of these to the supply yarn, thus producing a fault in the product.

The connection of the grooved roll with this difliculty appears to be that when the running yarn exhausts, the tail portion thereof loses its normal tension and tends not to stay in the groove of the roll but to be thrown out of the groove by centrifugal force. If a loose tail of yarn is thrown out and is caught by the cylindrical or conical surface of the yarn package this tail will then lie in position to be picked up by the end-finding mechanism and handled in the usual manner by the knotter. However, particularly when the yarn is thrown out at the end of the package, the thrown out tail may not be caught by the cylindrical or conical surface of the package but rather by the exposed part of the cylindrical or conical core on which the yarn is wound. As soon as a yarn package attains any substantial thickness the endfinding mechanism is not well adapted to deal with a yarn that does not present an actual free end on the surface of the package. For instance if this actual end of yarn is present as a tail lying on the core rather than on the yarn surface, the reverse rotation during end finding may wind more of the yarn onto the core while the end-finding nozzle is attempting to draw in what amounts to a loop rather than the actual end of the yarn.

The invention aims to avoid these difiiculties by modifying the roll so as to reduce the possibility of the tail end of yarn failing to come to rest on the cylindrical or conical surface of the yarn package.

In a preferred form of the invention the roll is provided with a member yieldingly pressing against a side wall of the groove and displaceable by a tensioned yarn to permit the yarn to seat in the groove, the pressure of said member against said wall restraining substantially untensioned yarn from being thrown from the groove.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a rotary grooved yamtraversing roll having the invention applied thereto.

FIG. 2 is an end view of the roll showing also the running yarn and a fragment of the winding package and its core.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary radial sectional view taken on the line 33 of FIG. 2.

The roll of FIG. 1 indicated generally at 10 rotates in normal winding in the direction indicated at X. The groove configuration has a point of reversal 11 adjacent to the left end of the roll and another point of reversal 12 adjacent to the right end of the roll, with intermediate places where the opposite helical portions of the groove configuration cross.

The crossings are marked by interruption of that part of the groove which acts to lead the yarn away from that end of the roll which the crossing point is nearest. Thus the groove portion 15 Which will lead the yarn away from the left end of the roll is interrupted Where it approaches the oppositely directed groove portion 16, so that the yarn guided by portion 15 crosses portion 16 without transfer of control of the yarn to this portion 16 at that place. The yarn, having crossed portion 16, is reengaged by What is in effect a continuation of the portion 15 (lying in the roll position of FIG. 1 momentarily upon the far side of the roll).

Withoutcomplicating the drawing by attempting to show this continuation of the interrupted groove portion on the far side of the roll, the pick-up of the yarn from an interrupted groove portion may be explained by pointing to the inwardly-leading groove portion 17 on the momentarily near side of the roll, adapted to receive the yarn from an interrupted groove portion constituting the oppositely directed counterpart, on the far side of the roll, of the interrupted groove portion 15. In entering the inwardly-leading portion 17 the yarn crosses the outwardly-leading portion 18.

Obviously instead of being interrupted the groove portions can actually physically cross, with suitable means being provided to prevent the yarn from being deflected in the reverse direction of traverse at the crossing points, such means usually involving a relative deepening of the outwardly-leading groove portion as for example in US. patent to Reece No. 1,749,355.

For convenience in describing either a groove formation in which there is actual physical crossing of two groove portions or the equivalent groove formation in which one groove portion is interrupted, it may be said (.9 that there is a crossing place on the roll at which the path of the yarn as guided by one groove portion crosses the path of the yarn as guided by another groove portion.

Also there may be various numbers of points of crossing of the yarn path, depending upon the desired pitch of traverse, length of traverse, and diameter of the grooved roll, and the simplest form of grooved roll having a single continuous groove with no crossings may also be used.

In FIG. 1 the yarn Y may be seen running up from any conventional guide 20 to the groove of the roll. In FIG. 2 a fragment of the yarn package is indicated at 21 and the core thereof at 22. Ordinarily, although not necessarily, the roll will drive the yarn package as well as traverse the yarn, so the package is shown as resting on the roll. Any suitable shaft (not shown) drives the roll.

FIG. 2 shows the yarn entering the groove, seating on the bottom of the groove (only part of the groove bottom being indicated), then leaving the bottom of the groove and running tangentially onto the yarn package.

A member, preferably in the form of a spherical ball 30, is mounted so as to press yieldingly against the inner side wall of the inwardly-leading groove portion 15, a short distance following the groove reversal 11.

The ball 30 is free to move in a socket formed by a pin 31 having a bored-out end, extending into the groove and holding the ball. Centrifugal force urges the ball outwardly radially of the grooved roll. The reaction of the socket upon the ball does not coincide with the radial direction of the centrifugal force, but has a component which urges the ball against the inclined side wall of the groove. This component may be varied by varying the inclination of the bore of the socket to the axis of the roll.

Running tensioned yarn can displace the ball so that the yarn will pass between the ball and groove wall and seat on the bottom ofthe groove in being picked up by the roll, and again can displace the ball so as to leave the groove in running onto the winding package. However, a substantially untensioned tail portion of yarn is prevented by the ball from being thrown out of the groove by centrifugal force.

The location of the ball in the inwardly-leading portion of the groove near but somewhat following the point of reversal, greatly reduces the chances of a yarn end being thrown out of the groove at the end of the package, where there is risk of itbeing caught by the core, and further insures that in the rare case in which a yarn end might still be thrown out at the end of a package, the part that might fail to come to rest on the cylindrical or conical surface of the package would be quite short.

The pin 31 whose end forms the socket is inclined to the axis of the roll and is locked in place by a set screw 33, as indicated in FIG. 3, the pin being inserted through the end of the roll.

A similar construction is preferably provided at the right end of the roll to provide a ball yieldingly pressing against the inner face of the inwardly leading groove portion on the far side of the roll, shortly following the reversal point 12.

While the spherical ball may be of solid steel, a hollow ball may be used, and materials lighter than steel may be employed, for the purpose of reducing inertia.

I claim:

1. A rotary yarn traversing roll having a yarnreceiving groove for traversing the yarn and including a member extending from one side wall of the groove and yieldingly pressing against the opposite side wall of the groove, the member extending across the groove and being displaceable by tensioned yarn to permit the yarn to seat in the groove, the pressure of said member against said opposite wall restraining a substantially untensioned yarn against being thrown from the groove.

2. A rotary yarn traversing roll having a yarn-receiving groove for traversing the yarn and including a member rotatable with the roll and extending into the groove, the member extending across the groove from one side to the opposite side, and a mounting for the member positioning the member so that centrifugal force urges the member against the side wall of the groove as the roll rotates.

3. A rotary yarn traversing roll having a yarmreceiving groove having reversals at opposite end portions of the roll and including a member extending from one side wall of the groove and yieldingly pressing against the opposite side wall of the groove, the member extending across the groove and being displaceable by tensioned yarn to permit the yarn to seat in the groove, the pressure of said member against said opposite wall restraining a substantially untensioned yarn against being thrown from the groove, said member being located near a place of reversal of the groove at that part of the groove at which the groove will lead the yarn away from said reversal toward the middle of the roll.

4. A rotary yarn traversing roll having a yarn-receiving groove for traversing the yarn and including a ball and a socket in said groove, the socket being disposed in one side wall of the groove to present the ball to the opposite side wall of the groove and to retain the ball in position for centrifugal force to urge the ball against said opposite side wall as the roll rotates.

5. A rotary yarn traversing roll having a yarn-receiving groove for traversing the yarn and including a spherical ball and a socket in said groove, the socket being disposed in one side wall of the groove to present the ball to the opposite side wall of the groove and the ball being movable in and out relative to the socket and being adapted to protrude from an end of the socket and bear against said opposite side wall of the groove, said socket reacting against the ball as the roll rotates to provide a component of force pressing the ball against said opposite wall.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,136,495 6/1964 Furst 24243.2 3,270,971 9/1966 Jenny 242-18 3,276,703 10/1966 Kamp 242-432 X STANLEY N. GILREATH, Primary Examiner. 

1. A ROTARY YARN TRAVERSING ROLL HAVING A YARN-RECEIVING GROOVE FOR TRAVERSING THE YARN AND INCLUDING A MEMBER EXTENDING FROM ONE SIDE WALL OF THE GROOVE AND YIELDINGLY PRESSING AGAINST THE OPPOSITE SIDE WALL OF THE GROOVE, THE MEMBER EXTENDING ACROSS THE GROOVE AND BEING DISPLACEABLE BY TENSIONED YARN TO PERMIT THE YARN TO 